The present invention relates to a tread design for a pneumatic tire of radial construction for high-speed vehicles, with the tire having a height-to-width ratio of .ltoreq.0.6. These vehicle tires have a belt-reinforced tread portion with a tread design that is tied to the direction of rotation. The tread design comprises profiled elements that are steeply oriented in the circumferential direction at an angle to the equatorial plane of the tire and are arranged in the shape of V's. The profiled elements extend from a central portion of the tread design into shoulder regions of the tire, with the profiled elements being angled-off at a bend region in the shoulder regions in a direction that is more or less parallel to the axis of the tire. Respective continuous inclined grooves are formed between the profiled elements and proceed from the central portion of the tread design to the open shoulder regions.
A tread design of this general type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,037; the tread surfaces of such pneumatic vehicle tires are relatively wide. The wide circumferential groove that is provided, and the number of inclined grooves formed by inclined profiled elements, ensure that the aquaplaning that is more feared with wide tires than with normal tires under similar water depth conditions is effectively avoided and that water that is present can still be effectively removed from the ground support surface even when locking of the wheels occurs during full braking. The heretofore known tread design has a wide circumferential groove and wide profiled element ends that delimit this groove. Unfortunately, at high vehicle speeds this results in a high rate of wear and a high generation of noise.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tread design of the aforementioned general type where the profiled elements are disposed as steeply as possible in order to ensure great drainage due to the steeply oriented inclined grooves, and in order not only in the central region but also in the shoulder regions to provide a positive profile in order to keep the wear and the generation of noise relatively slight.
The tread design can, in place of the profiled elements, also be provided with profiled grooves that are delimited by profiled elements.